Unable to Seriously Think of a Title
by c0ntxgious
Summary: Hey, people of the Fanfic community! I'm sorry but I have been reading some of these stories lately and I'm getting severely depressed! So I wrote this cute little fanfic today with more happiness than sadness because I'm getting sick of depression! R&R!
1. Chapter 1

"Hello?"

"Hey, Elliot...It's me. I'm really sorry, I know it's late. I just got home. I was...out...and I came home and my neighbor was screaming. I grabbed my gun-"

"You didn't have it with you already?" he interrupted, now fully awake.

"No, I was...on a date. Anyway, I was opening my door when I heard her scream. I went into her apartment and saw a guy raping her. He had on a mask. I made him get off of her but while I was going to get him off of her, another guy came out of her bathroom and hit me from behind. I didn't see it coming because I hadn't seen him when I went in. After he hit me he ran off, and I started to chase after him but realized I couldn't leave the perp, so I went back and got the perp and let the other guy go. I called in for help, of course, but they are just now getting here. It happened about five minutes ago."

Elliot, sitting up and worrying about Olivia, immediately got prepared to leave. "I'm coming."

"See you in ten."

"Wait!"

"Yeah?" Olivia asked.

"Are you all right?"

"Of course," she replied.

"I mean your head," he pointed out.

"Oh...well, the paramedic said he thinks I have a concussion but that doesn't matter, we just need to catch that other perp."

Elliot, knowing Olivia didn't care that she had a concussion, hung up even though he was still a little worried.

When Elliot got to the scene, Olivia was trying desperately to get away from some paramedics. Elliot approached them and heard part of the conversation.

"Listen, it doesn't really matter! My head doesn't really hurt anymore!" Olivia spat.

The paramedic grabbed her arm. "But ma'am, after being hit in the back of the head with a pan, it's abnormal not to feel any pain-"

"You're right, okay? You're right! I have a damned headache, because my head is pounding with anger! I'm a cop! I need to do my job, I'm fine! Leave me alone! I'll go to the hospital later!" she yelled, finally yanking her arm out of the paramedic's reach and running to some other cops. Elliot caught up with her.

"You guys go down 57th Street and look for a man wearing a navy blue sweatshirt and black sweatpants. My partner and I will go down 58th," Olivia ordered, starting down 58th street. Elliot walked quickly after her, grabbing her shoulder.

"Wait a minute! Your head is hurt, and the paramedics didn't check you out. Are you _sure_ that you're okay, Liv?" he questioned seriously.

Olivia glared at him. "I'm fine, Elliot! Come _on!_ He could be getting on a subway right now!"

Elliot, defeated, nodded his head and followed.

Elliot and Olivia searched all of 58th street and even went further than that, searching 59th as well. They never found him, so they went back to Olivia's apartment. The cops had come back and said they didn't find anyone either.

Elliot could tell that Olivia was upset. Cragen approached them.

"Fin and Munch talked to the victim, but they didn't get much out of her. She was too upset and she didn't get many details anyway. You two go home and get some sleep, and be at work on time tomorrow ready to find the other guy," he said. "Oh, and Olivia, you did good tonight. You reacted right because if you'd chased down the other guy, you would have had a chance at losing both of them. But if you don't go and get your head checked out and have a doctor's note tomorrow, I'm not going to let you work. So you better get that done," he said, smiling faintly and leaving.

Olivia sighed in exasperation and looked up at Elliot. "I guess I'll have to go get checked out," she said. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Elliot grabbed her shoulder. "I'll go with you."

"No, it's fine, El. You must be exhausted. Go home."

"I'm not very tired anymore. I went to bed early and it's about 2:30. If I go home, I'm not going to be able to go back to sleep anyway," he explained.

Olivia smiled. "Okay, then," she said, heading for his car.

On the way to the hospital, Elliot acted sort of nervous. He kept glancing over at Olivia, and then darting his eyes back to the road ahead of him. He repeatedly readjusted his hands on the steering wheel.

"Elliot...are you okay? You seem a little...on edge," Olivia said, looking over at him.

"Well, ah, I kind of wanted to tell you something. I've been waiting for a while, to find the right time when I was able to handle talking about it," he said.

Olivia stared at him expectantly, and when he didn't say anything for a minute, she put her hand on his arm gently. "What is it, El?"

Elliot sighed. "I'm divorcing Kathy."

Olivia breathed in. "Are you sure? I mean, have you thought about this for a long time, or did you recently decide?"

"I've been preparing for it for a while. We don't really fight very much but I'm just not in love with her. I try to force myself to be so I can still be a family guy with my kids and not have some sort of disfunctional family, but it still doesn't work out. I'm really sick of going home at night and kissing someone I don't love. I tried not to think about myself at first, but I'm not happy at all. And we haven't fought a whole lot, but we have some. Nobody is ever just happy. Not even my kids are happy anymore because they notice that Kathy and I don't get along. And when you called tonight, I was actually asleep on the couch...even though we don't fight much, we fought really bad tonight. I think she would have kicked me out but she didn't know where I'd go and she still has somewhat of a conscience. That's part of the reason that I wanted to go with you to the hospital; I didn't want to go back home...and I mean, I was also worried about you," he said with a faint smile.

Olivia put her hand on his shoulder comfortingly. "Don't be worried, I'm fine. You've obviously got some problems of your own to deal with. You can stay with me, if that's all right with you," she said.

Elliot was silent a minute, staring at the road ahead, and then glanced at her. "No, it's okay. I can stay on my couch until I get moved out. I already filed the papers, so it shouldn't be too long."

"Elliot, you can stay with me, really. I'd be fine with it. I mean, if you're saying no because you don't want to stay, then that's fine. But if you're afraid I'm not all right with that then please, please understand that I'm totally up for that."

He seemed to consider it more now. Finally he said, "All right..."

"Maybe we can actually act like the friends that we are and talk about something other than sex crimes," Olivia joked.

Elliot smiled. She knew what to say to make him smile, even when he wasn't in the greatest of moods.

"I'm so sorry this is happening. I can't believe you're going through this again, this is awful. I'm sorry but really, since the first time you guys divorced, I haven't been very fond of Kathy," Olivia said.

Elliot chuckled and looked over at her. "I haven't either. She's an okay person overall but even after so many years, she still hasn't figured out how to deal with me and the job."

Olivia nodded. "Well, I mean, the schedule is a little difficult to work around. But everyone knows that cops are the sexiest people alive," she said.

Elliot laughed. "Definitely. And we're the best cops in the NYPD, so we're probably pretty damn sexy."

"Um-hmm," Olivia said.


	2. Chapter 2

They finally arrived at the hospital and got in pretty quickly, since it wasn't very crowded.

"Okay, Miss Benson. We're going to have to give you a CT scan and make sure that you don't have any concussions that are too bad," said an old doctor.

Olivia nodded and started following him to the CT scan room. Elliot started to go in with her, but the doctor stopped him.

"Are you her spouse or are you related to her?" he asked.

"Um, no," Elliot said.

The doctor shook his head. "Then I'm afraid you can't come in," he said.

"But I'm her fiance...so technically we _will_ be related," Elliot lied. He wanted to see the CT scan and be told everything that had happened.

The doctor nodded and allowed Elliot to go into the room with Olivia. She gave him a funny look that said, "Where did you pull that out of? Your ass?"

Elliot grinned and sat down in a chair in the dark room.

The doctor made Olivia lay down on a big hospital bed and put her head into a large, circular thing that took the pictures of her skull. He made her close her eyes while he took some pictures, and then he made her turn around so he could take more from a different angle.

After the CT scan was finished, Olivia and Elliot walked back to the hospital room. The doctor left for about ten minutes and came back with Olivia's skeleton x-ray. "As you can see by looking at these," the doctor said, handing Olivia the x-rays, "You have a concussions and a couple contusions, which are bruises on your brain. Luckily enough, you don't have any bleeding of the brain, which means that you aren't in any type of fatal condition. The concussion is pretty serious, but you should be over it within a week or two. Concussions often don't take too long to heal. I suggest that you stay home from work, but that isn't a requirement. When I say I suggest it though, I mean that I strongly suggest it. If you put too much stress on your head, it could take a lot longer to heal and you will experience some very extreme headaches. If I were you, I would avoid participating in any even slightly risky activities such as sports, excercise of any form, and anything that requires you keeping your head in an uncomfortable position for long periods of time. I'm going to give you some pain reliever that should help with the headaches you will be getting. I'm going to suggest that you sleep with your head propped up on several pillows. Other than that, you should be all right," he said, handing her a bottle of medicine and some release forms. Olivia signed a copy for the doctor, and a copy for herself to keep.

"Thank you, Doctor. Good-bye," Olivia said, walking out the door with Elliot.

In the car, Elliot glanced at Olivia. "So does your head hurt?"

"No," Olivia replied way too quickly.

He stared her down intently.

Olivia chuckled. "All right, all right. It hurts. But not too bad. It's not as bad as I've felt before," she assured him.

"Take one of your pain relievers," he instructed her.

She nodded and got one of the pills. She took Elliot's Sprite and took the pill, and then gulped down the rest of the drink. "I hope you weren't thirsty," she said.

Elliot grinned. "I wasn't," he replied.

When they got to Olivia's apartment building, Elliot parked his car in the parking garage and they went inside. They went to Olivia's apartment and both immediately collapsed on Olivia's couch.

"I'm really just not even tired," Elliot said.

"I am," Olivia replied.

"Wait a minute, you must be...because you haven't slept tonight! You were on a date, and you never even told me about it!" Elliot exclaimed.

"Look, you didn't tell me that you were thinking of divorcing Kathy until now. So, why should I have to tell you when I'm going on a date?"

Elliot cocked his head. "Because I want to know...how did it go?"

Olivia laughed out loud. "Horrible. All of my dates go horrible. They're always like, "Oh, you're a cop in New York City. That means that you have an awful schedule and you don't make much money. See you later." And then they leave."

Elliot nodded. "I know. This job kills."

"But I could never imagine my life without it," Olivia said, yawning.

"Me neither."

Olivia suddenly got up and went into her kitchen. She came back a minute later with a bowl of vanilla ice cream and handed it to Elliot.

"That was random."

"Well, you said that you weren't tired. We have work tomorrow, though, and you need to sleep a little. And plus, if you don't fall asleep, I'll feel guilty for going to sleep and leaving you alone in my house. So eat some ice cream. Ice cream _always_ makes me tired," Olivia said.

Elliot laughed, spooning in the ice cream. "Okay," he said between bites.

After Elliot finished, he actually discovered that he was feeling a bit more tired. A few minutes after he had washed the dish and put it back up, it began to hit him that he felt full and tired. He went to the couch and sat down beside Olivia, but discovered that she was asleep. Shit. What was he supposed to do? Should he wake her up, and take her back to her bedroom? Or should he just leave her sleeping on the sofa and go back to her bedroom?

He knew he would feel guilty sleeping in her bed while she slept on the couch with an injured skull, so he decided to wake her up. Or maybe he could not wake her up afterall! He suddenly knew what to do, but he had to be very careful.

Elliot went over to the couch and slowly slid one of his hands under Olivia's neck, and the other one under her knees. Noticing how beautiful she looked, he lifted her up slowly and gently, being as careful as he could not to wake her. He walked to her bedroom and set her carefully on the bed, and pulled up several pillows and put them behind her head. He finally pulled his hand back from her neck, but he woke her. Damn it. Why did he seriously have to wake her up on the last, simple little move?

Olivia's eyelids fluttered and she was half awake. Elliot took her shoes off and pushed her a little further onto the bed. Olivia, still blinking a little, began to open her eyes completely. Elliot pulled a blanket up and covered her up, and noticed Olivia looking at him.

"Did you seriously carry me back here?" she asked, grinning.

Elliot looked a little embarrassed but amused. "Well, I didn't want to wake you up, but I didn't want to leave you on the couch either because of the concussion and everything," he said.

Olivia grabbed Elliot's hand, which was on the blanket that was covering her, and closed her eyes. "You're more sweet than you try to act, El," she said.

Elliot chuckled quietly. "Not usually. I think it's just something about you," he said. Then he bent over and kissed her gently on the temple, and left the room.

The next morning, Olivia was awake before Elliot and was already getting into her work clothes. She went to the couch to wake up Elliot. She approached him and shook his shoulder gently.

"Hey, get up, El," she said quietly.

Elliot didn't open his eyes.

"Elliot, come on. We've got to go. My alarm clock didn't go off and I slept in. We're going to be late," she said. Since he didn't respond, she shook him again gently.

He finally woke up and yawned. He stood up and stared at Olivia.

"Wait, wait, wait. You are _not_ going to work today. The doctor said you needed to stay home," he said.

He was already scolding her and he wasn't even hardly awake! "Elliot, I'm fine! The doctor only suggested it, which means it's okay if I go," she protested.

Elliot put his hands on her shoulders and pushed her down onto the couch. "No way. You're staying home."

"No, I'm not! My head hasn't hurt at all! I slept well last night and my head was propped up so I'm feeling fine," she said.

"I don't think that it's a good idea," he replied.

Olivia glared at him. "Wait a minute. Do you _want_ to work with someone else? Are you getting sick of me or something?" she inquired.

Elliot's eyes bulged. "What? No! If you seriously want to go to work, then that's fine with me! I was just worried about your head!" he exclaimed.

Olivia grinned. "Yeah, I know you were. But I was pretty sure that saying that would make you let me go to work," she said.

Elliot tried to hide a smile. "You're kind of mean, Benson."

Olivia chuckled but became serious again. "We've got to hurry if we're going to get there on time."

They arrived at work on time, and immediately began to work on the case. They continued to look for the other perpetrator all day, but went home again that night with no leads or suspects, and no idea who he was. The good thing was that they did go to court and the perpetrator Olivia had caught at the scene was found guilty and put into prison.

"We need to stop at your house and get some of your clothes," Olivia said.

Elliot nodded. "Okay...Kathy's going to ask where I'm staying," he said.

"Don't say you're staying with me," she replied.

"I won't. Next thing I know, I'll be accused of cheating," he said.

"What if I went in and said that you sent me to get some clothes? I could say that you're staying in the crib until you figure out where to go, and you sent me to get you some stuff. If we did it that way then you could avoid seeing her and fighting," Olivia suggested.

Elliot contemplated this. "Yeah, that sounds like it would be the best way to do things. I don't want to fight with her anymore. Are you sure that's all right with you?"

"Yeah, it's fine, I don't mind. But I need to know where everything is..."

"Okay, well, in my bedroom is my dresser. Kathy's stuff is in the bottom drawers, and my stuff is in the top. Can you grab enough stuff to last me a little over a week?"

"Yeah. And then you can just wash those clothes and use them again until you get a chance to go get more," Olivia said. "I'll figure out where the stuff is, I'll just open the top drawers and get some stuff."

"My closet is in the bathroom, so that's where you'll get the dress shirts and everything," he said.

"Okay," she said.

Minutes later, they pulled up at Elliot's house. She parked a little further down the street so Kathy wouldn't see Elliot if she looked outside. She went up to his house and rung the doorbell. Kathy appeared a minute later.

"Olivia? Is everything okay?" she asked.

"Uh, yeah," Olivia said. "Elliot is staying in the cribs for a while, and he sent me to get some of his clothes."

Kathy stared at her. "So I'm guessing you know that we're not doing well," she said.

Olivia nodded.

"Um, come in. You can get what you need. Elliot has bags in the closet that you can pack everything up in," she said.

Olivia went back to Elliot's bedroom and grabbed a lot of stuff, including underwear, pajama pants, dress shirts, work pants, an extra jacket, and a knit hat. She packed them all up in a green bag that she found, and then reappeared in the living room.

"Thanks for letting me get this stuff," she said to Kathy as she started towards the door.

"No problem. Oh, and Elliot and I probably aren't really getting divorced or anything. We've just fought a little lately, but we're going to be fine. I think he just needs to spend some time away from home," she said.

Olivia's eyes widened but she nodded. "Okay," she said as she left the house.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Hey guys! I forgot to put my disclaimer! I own nothing! LOL. Anyway, I didn't put an author's note on the first chapter so I'm putting it now. I was reading some stories on here and they were so sad! I mean, sad stories are great and everything, but I'm feeling depressed here! So I know that I said in the summary that this was going to be more of a fluff than anything, but there is a little drama/injury in here. I just put that in to make it a little more interesting(: **

**Hope you guys enjoy! ~Allison**

When she got back to the car, she put Elliot's stuff in the back seat.

"You've got everything?" he asked.

"Yep," she replied.

Elliot nodded and took off, driving away from the house.

Olivia glanced at him. "Kathy said that you guys weren't really divorcing...She said that you two are just fighting but you would end up back together."

Elliot looked at her. "She said that?"

Olivia nodded.

"That's because she doesn't know that I already filed the papers. She doesn't realize that I'm serious, but...I am. I'm completely serious. I know for sure that I'm divorcing her," he said.

"Oh, okay. She just doesn't realize that," Olivia replied.

"She won't until it happens," Elliot said.

Olivia nodded and stayed silent the rest of the car ride home.

When they got in, they sat on the couch. Olivia put Elliot's bag of clothing beside them. She reached in and pulled something out.

"I got you an extra pair of underwear, just in case," she said, holding up a thong.

Elliot tried not to laugh. "I seriously don't ever want to see one of Kathy's thongs ever again. She's probably going to be wondering where that went," he said.

Olivia laughed and got up off the couch. She pushed open a window and then retrieved the thong.

"Come on, watch. Let's try to get this thong to land on somebody's head."

Elliot stared at her. "You're serious."

"Of course!" Olivia laughed.

He got up from the couch and went to watch her. He stood beside her, leaning his head out the window. She waited until a person was coming, and then she dropped it a little bit before the person was right under them, so the thong would have time to fall. They watched intently, and sure enough, it landed right on the guy's head. He immediately put both of his hands on his head, and grabbed the thong. He stared at it for a minute, disgusted, and then threw it on the ground. He continued walking, rubbing his head in disgust.

Olivia couldn't stop laughing, and Elliot really couldn't either. It was the funniest thing they'd seen in a while.

"Oh my God, that was good," Elliot said, staring out into the dark sky.

Olivia nodded and laughed one last time.

"I'm hungry," Olivia said.

Elliot looked at her. "Yeah, me too."

"Do you want to call in take-out, or go somewhere, or...?"

"I don't care either way, what are you in the mood for?"

"Hmm...Italian. Let's go out," Olivia said.

Elliot nodded. "Sounds good."

They went to a restaurant on 57th and Park. By the time they got there, they were both really hungry. They ordered and ate, but while they were waiting, they talked for a while. Olivia was really surprised when they didn't talk about anything to do with work. Their conversation wasn't about suspects, or perps, or victims, or rape, or judges, or anything else. They just talked like two friends. Olivia enjoyed it. Elliot wanted to do it more often.

After dinner, they went back to Olivia's apartment. They went inside and they both took showers, and then flipped on the tv to watch something. When Olivia had finally gotten settled on the couch with Elliot, her doorbell rang. Elliot looked at the door.

"Hold on a second. I'll get it," she said, handing him the remote and getting up. She walked to the door and opened it to reveal a short man with a vase of a dozen roses in his hands.

"Olivia Benson?"

Olivia stared at him. "Um, yeah, that's me," she said.

He handed her the roses. "Delivery."

"Thanks," she said confusedly.

The guy nodded and left.

Elliot got off of the couch and walked over to the counter, where Olivia set the roses down. Elliot found the card and handed it to her. She slowly pulled it out of the envelope and her eyes scanned it. She scanned it once, and then she read it again. She looked upset.

"Is everything okay?" Elliot asked with concern.

Olivia looked at him. "Uh...no, I don't think so."

Elliot put his hand on her shoulder and leaned in to read the card.

_These roses are for you, my dear._

_ They are my sincere apology that you didn't catch me. _

_ You should meet me tomorrow in Central Park at Gapstow Bridge. 10:00 a.m._

_ If you would prefer not to, then we could do this the hard way._

_ You better not have anybody with you._

_ If you do, then...well, you can just see what will happen._

_ I don't think you want to risk it._

_ ~The Other Guy_


	4. Chapter 4

"Elliot, he signed it "The Other Guy." He had to have heard us talking the other night! He was watching us! We kept calling him "the other perpetrator!" He had to have been listening to us!" Olivia concluded.

Elliot nodded. "He...knows where you live. Maybe you shouldn't stay here. He could come tonight and rape you, or bomb your apartment."

Olivia looked at him with wide eyes. "I don't think so..."

"Let's stay in the crib, just to be safe, Liv," Elliot suggested.

"Okay," she replied.

She gathered her things and Elliot gathered his. Olivia grabbed the card on the way out of her apartment. When they got to the precinct, they sat in the cribs and talked about what they should do.

"Maybe I should just go tomorrow alone," she said.

"Are you crazy?" Elliot questioned.

"Well, I mean, we'd make him _think_ I was alone."

"I don't think you should go at all. If you think about it, he will definitely have a gun. If he sees somebody, he'll kill you, or he'll threaten to. Then we'll end up in a situation...like the one we were in with Gitano," he said hesitantly.

At the mention of Gitano's name, Olivia shivered. "Let's not send anybody to him, then. He'll be waiting for me at Gapstow bridge. We can just approach him, and he'll have no choice but to put it down because there will be a lot of people with guns against him," she said.

"Okay. That'll be the easiest way to do it. But he probably knows that we'll do that. I think he'll be hiding or something, waiting until he sees you. He isn't stupid enough to sit in clear view with a gun. If we can't find his hiding spot, then we're right back to where we were, because you'll walk out so he'll see you, and then he'll have a gun on you-"

"But I'll have my gun too. I can sit and wait for him, and then I can pull my gun on him and he'll have to back off."

"No, that won't work out. Because you won't see him coming, because he'll be hiding. Either way, we'll end up in a Gitano situation," Elliot said.

Olivia sighed, thinking. "Okay. Let's just go tomorrow, and make sure that he wasn't stupid enough to sit in clear view where we can just surround him. Elliot, even if we end up in a Gitano situation, as you call it, we could just have someone shoot him from behind. He'd never see it coming and it would work out fine," she said.

Elliot shook his head. "No way. That's risky."

"No it's not-"

"Yes it is! He could pull the trigger when he hears the gunshot! Like I said, it's a Gitano situation! I'm not about to let you get into that," he spat.

"All right, all right, fine. We'll go tomorrow and just see how things work out. If we find his hiding spot then it'll be fine. We can just shoot him in the leg or something, and wound him, so he won't be able to get up or run," Olivia said.

Elliot looked at her. "Okay..."

Olivia smiled. She got up off of the bed and walked over to another one that was close to Elliot's. They both got settled and were trying to go to sleep. After about five minutes of silence, Elliot spoke.

"Liv...?" he asked, seeing if she was still awake.

"Hm?" she said.

"I'm...really worried...about tomorrow."

Olivia was quiet a minute. "Why? It'll be okay, El."

"Well, I just...don't want anything to happen to you," he confessed.

Olivia thought about this for a second, and then went and sat on Elliot's bed.

"Elliot, why are you worried? You know I put myself at danger all the time with you. What makes this different?" she asked quietly, putting her hand on his leg.

He looked at her. "I don't know. I just...I usually don't think about it this hard. I just kind of became blind to how much danger you're in all the time, because it's gone on so long and you've always come out to be fine. But now I'm thinking about it more. I mean, don't you get it? You could get _killed!_"

Olivia nodded and looked at him sympathetically. "I _could_. But I probably won't. You're worrying for no reason, Elliot."

"No, I have a reason. You said you probably won't. But you still could," he protested.

Olivia chuckled. "Of course I could. So could you. The world could end tomorrow and everybody could be killed. We could get in a car accident and I could be decapitated by the seatbelt."

"Why are you saying this?" Elliot asked.

"Because I'm pointing out that anything _could_ happen, and you're worrying for nothing. But will we get in a car accident? We _could_, but we probably won't. You never know what's going to happen, so stop worrying," Olivia said, smiling faintly.

Elliot breathed out. "You're right."

"Why are you thinking about this right now? You've never been like this before," Olivia said.

He was quiet a minute. "I guess that staying at your apartment and being around you more and everything made me...closer to you. Or maybe I just started thinking about it more because I made some realizations now that I'm around you more. I...didn't ever even think about you that much until lately. I mean, there were nights I'd lay in bed and think, "I hope Olivia's okay after that case," or "Maybe I should go check on Olivia." But I never really thought, "What if Olivia died?" It just didn't cross my mind that much."

Olivia laughed quietly. "Are you saying that you never really cared if I died until now?" she asked.

"I'm kind of serious, here, Liv," he said.

She nodded. "I know. I'm sorry."

"I just never thought about how _much_ I wanted you to be safe until now," Elliot confessed.

She put her hand on his shoulder. "I'll be all right. If it'll make you feel better, I'll promise you that I will _not_ approach the guy alone tomorrow."

Elliot looked up at her. "Okay. Thanks," he said.

She nodded, rubbed his shoulder, and stood up to go back to her bed. Elliot grabbed her arm. Olivia looked back at him in confusion. He scooted over and looked at her expectantly. She chuckled and climbed in bed with him. She turned around to face him and he wrapped his arms around her. She leaned into his bare chest and put her cheek on his neck. Her hair grazed his chin and her hands were warm on his bare chest. She liked this a lot.

"Hey, Elliot?"

"Hm?"

"I feel pretty safe."

Elliot chuckled. "You are," he said.

Even though Elliot had been at war with his mind, thinking nonstop about whether or not Olivia would be all right tomorrow, he was finally at peace with his mind now that Olivia was in his arms. He drifted off to sleep peacefully, enjoying the feeling of having Olivia in his arms.


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning, they went to Gapstow Bridge at 10:00 a.m., like the perp had requested. They had Cragen, Fin, Munch, and several other cops there to back them up. When they got there, they weren't surprised when they didn't see the perp there. Nobody was on the bridge at all. A single woman walked over it, but other than that, they didn't see anyone. They all hid behind trees and looked around for anyone out of the ordinary, but they didn't see anyone. Suddenly, Elliot heard a gunshot. Olivia's scream came from beside the water, where she'd been hiding in the tall grass. Elliot ran immediately to Olivia and Fin, Munch, and Cragen saw the perp and ran after him.

Elliot approached Olivia, who had fallen into the freezing cold water. He pulled her out of the water and was extremely relieved when he saw that she was shot in the thigh. No major organs had been hit. Still, though, she could lose too much blood. He called for an ambulance and put pressure on her gunshot wound. Olivia's hair was sticking to her freezing, wet face, and her eyebrows were arched in pain.

"He...Did they get him?" she asked, wincing.

"I don't know, babe, just hold on a minute. They all went after him. They'll get him. Just hold on. An ambulance is coming," he said.

She barely nodded, and continued to wince. The ambulance pulled up a minute later and put Olivia on a stretcher. Elliot climbed in with her and went to the hospital. When they got there, Elliot was forced to stay in a waiting room. He was there for about thirty minutes, but it seemed like hours had passed when a nurse finally came to talk to him.

"You can see your partner now. She's okay, but she'll be on crutches for a week or two until it heals, and she's going to be in a lot of pain. We were looking at her medical history and saw that she was in the hospital just a couple days ago for a concussion...? She was advised to stay at home, but obviously she didn't. The doctor is now _requiring_ her to stay home. She has to stay home for at least a week," the nurse said.

Elliot nodded. "I tried to make her stay home last time too. She's so stubborn," he commented.

The nurse chuckled. "She seems pretty tough. She seemed stubborn too, though. I had to explain to her about fifty times that she couldn't see you for a minute."

Elliot smiled. "Well, then...I guess I'm going to go see her. Thanks."

"No problem. I gave her another type of pain reliever, so it should help with her leg pain."

Elliot nodded and went to Olivia's hospital room. He went in and saw Olivia, who was already taking one of her pain relievers. He went and stood beside her bed.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

She looked up at him and laughed. "I'm not in the mood to lie. I feel like hammered shit."

He chuckled and sat down in a chair beside her.

"But part of it isn't from the wound. Part of it is that the doctor said I had to stay home from work, which I think is ridiculous, and part of it is that I seriously think I smell like the river under Gapstow Bridge, and I need a shower pronto."

Elliot laughed, but then turned serious again. "You _are_ staying home from work this time. I don't care how you feel about it. I don't care if you tell me that you're offended because you think I want to work with somebody else. That's not working this time. You're not about to go get some other sort of broken bone or wound," he said.

She sighed. "Fine, whatever. I'll stay at home. You should stay home with me though. Just tomorrow."

"I was planning on it," he said.

"Did they catch him?" she asked.

He smiled. "Yes. They got him."

"Thank God."

He looked at her for a minute, until she finally said, "Can we _please_ get some release forms?"

He shook his head and laughed. "I'll go get them."

He left and came back a minute later with a clipboard. Olivia signed the forms and handed it back to Elliot. He kept one copy and took the other one to the doctor. Then he helped Olivia get out of the bed and onto her crutches. He helped her out of the hospital and they went back to her apartment. When they got there, they went inside and Elliot sat down on the couch.

"I'm going to go change into some more comfortable clothes," Olivia said.

Elliot nodded but stood up with her. "Can I see the wound?"

"Uh...yeah, I mean that's fine with me. But why would you want to? It's kind of gross," she said.

"Yeah, I know. I just want to see how bad it is."

"Okay," Olivia said, using her crutches to go back to her bedroom. Elliot followed her and watched as she slowly pulled off her pants.

"You're okay with this?" Elliot asked. He just wanted to make sure she wasn't going to freak out because he was looking at her in her underwear.

"The doctor saw me like this. I'm not more modest around you than the doctor," she said.

Elliot nodded and looked at her thigh. It had a white bandage around it that the doctor had wrapped it with. Olivia sat down on her bed and stretched her legs out in front of her. Then she started to gently pull the bandage off. Elliot stood beside her and watched, until the wound was revealed. It was bigger than he'd thought it would be, because Olivia hadn't complained much, but it wasn't too awful. He should have known it would be bigger than Olivia acted like it was; she never complained.

Elliot carefully and gently wrapped the bandage back around Olivia's leg and then went over to her dresser. He opened the top drawer and pulled out a pair of black yoga pants. "Are these all right?" he asked.

"Um-hmm, that's fine," Olivia said.

He handed her the pants. She stood up and used Elliot's shoulder as stability while she put them on carefully. Afterwards, she wobbled back to the living room, not feeling like using her crutches. When she was finally comfortable on the couch watching television, Elliot went to take a shower. Olivia decided to take one while he was. She struggled a little to get out of the pants she'd just put on, and she struggled to get them back on when she was out of the shower too. But it wasn't too bad; she thought she would get used to it after a while.

She went back into the living room, holding a brush in her hands, and sat down on the couch beside Elliot, who had finished his shower first and was in his pajamas-some navy pj pants and no shirt-watching TV. Elliot grabbed Olivia's waist and turned her around so her back was to him, and then he pulled her closer to him, so she could put her legs up on the couch. Then he turned around so he was facing her back. He sat Indian-style, and took the brush from Olivia. He brushed her hair gently and slowly, making sure to get it all untangled without pulling any out. He kind of got into it, running his fingers through her hair and stroking her forehead. Olivia almost fell asleep from his soothing. Elliot continued to brush her hair, even after it was completely untangled, because he was enjoying it. He finally put the brush down on the coffee table. He turned back around to face the television and put his feet back on the ground. Then he took hold of her arm and gently pulled her down, urging her to lay down. She complied and layed down carefully in his lap, her cheek grazing his bare stomach. She reached up and carefully pulled down his eyelids, encouraging him to close his eyes. He closed his eyes and smiled a little, an amused expression on his face. She pulled a pen out of her coffee table and picked up a tiny piece of paper. On it she wrote, "I'd give you a kidney." Then she folded it up until it was really tiny. She then stuck it into Elliot's belly button. He laughed when she did this, and then he finally opened his eyes. He retrieved the paper out of his own belly button, opened it up and read it. He re-read it a couple of times, and then looked down at her.

"Not if I gave you mine first," he said, smiling.

Olivia grinned and kissed his stomach. Then she turned back to the television, and Elliot leaned over and kissed her temple. She smiled, glanced at him quickly, and then focused back on the screen. Olivia could feel herself falling asleep, but she didn't feel like wobbling back to her bedroom, so she just let it happen. She kept telling herself she'd get up in a minute, but she never did.

Elliot felt Olivia's breathing steady, and he looked down and realized she was asleep. He picked her up like he had the other night and carried her back to her bedroom. She woke up, but she didn't care. Elliot covered her up gently. Then he put his hand on her forehead and bent down and kissed her cheek. He started to walk away.

"El...?" Olivia said.

Elliot turned back and looked at her. Just as he had the night before, Olivia scooted over and stared at him expectantly. Then she smiled inspite of herself. He got in bed with her and wrapped his arms around her, putting his hands under her shirt and stroking her soft skin. She faced him and put cheek on his chest, kissing his arm that was around her.

"Hey, Liv?" Elliot asked.

"Yeah?" she answered.

"Do you think friends do this?" he asked.

Olivia looked at him. "No, I don't think so. Maybe really close friends do," she said.

"Maybe," Elliot agreed.

Olivia yawned and leaned in to him. "You want to know a secret?" she asked.

He chuckled. "Sure."

"You smell good," she revealed.

"You don't say?" Elliot joked.

"Um-hmm," she replied, giggling.

"You smell good too," he commented.

"We don't have to fall asleep right now if you don't want to, because we aren't going to work tomorrow! We get to sleep in," she said.

"I'm so relieved," he replied.

"Me too," she agreed.

"What do you want to do tomorrow?" he asked.

Olivia hadn't really thought about this. "I don't know...any ideas?"

"We could...go look for an apartment for me to move into," Elliot suggested.

She didn't reply for a minute.

"Does that sound okay?" he asked.

She shook her head.

"Okay, we won't...why not?" he asked.

"Till now, I always got by on my own. I never really cared until you started staying here. But now, I don't want to be alone. I...I want you to stay...?" she admitted quietly.

Elliot stroked her back. "Of course I'll stay...I would much rather stay with you than find an apartment and be alone again. I just didn't think you would want it that way, so I kept it out of the question. I...I love staying with you, I sleep better at night knowing for sure that you're safe and everything."

"And if you don't want to sleep...like this...you can get a futon or something for the livingroom," she said.

"I do want to sleep like this though, if that's okay with you," he replied.

Olivia nodded. "That's good."

Elliot suddenly scooted away from Olivia. She was confused for a minute. Then he put his hands gently on her cheeks and kissed her. He was careful and gentle, rather than confident. He pulled back for a second and Olivia kissed him back, not pulling back until she needed air.

"Are we okay with this?" Elliot asked, just in case.

"I am," Olivia said.

"Me too," he agreed, kissing her again. "I love you," he said.

"I love you too."


End file.
